Digital differential analyzer spiral scan generator

ABSTRACT

A spiral sweep generator for a rectangular Cartesian coordinate PPI display in a sonar system is disclosed using two crosscoupled DDA&#39;&#39;s to generate the sine and cosine values of sweep angle theta , and DDA&#39;&#39;s coupled to the sine and cosine DDA&#39;&#39;s to compute range rate values as increments Delta x and Delta y. The signs of the sine and cosine values are computed from the range rate increments as absolute values by counters in a PPI display unit. The signs of the sine and cosine are applied directly to the respective derivatives X and Y in the display unit where theta is zero for a heading-up display, i.e., for X 0; Y 1.

Murray 3,751,712 Aug. 7, 1973 DIGITAL DlFFERENTlAL ANALYZER SPIRAL SCAN GENERATOR Inventor:

Assignec:

Filed:

Appl. No.1

US. Cl...... Int. CI......

Gordon E. Murray, Santa Ana, Calif.

Hughes Aircraft Company, Culver City, Calif.

Apr. 29, 1970 315/24, 343/5 DP II01 29/70 Field of Search 343/5 DP; 315/24,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,478,357 11/1969 Bacon 315/24 Primary Examiner-Carl D. Quarforth Assistant Examiner-J. M. Potenza Attorney-James K. Haskell and Walter J. Adam 57] ABSTRACT A spiral sweep generator for a rectangular Cartesian coordinate PPI display in a sonar system is disclosed using two cross-coupled DDAs to generate the sine and cosine values of sweep angle 0, and DDAs coupled to the sine and cosine DDAs to compute range rate values as increments Ax and Ay. The signs of the sine and cosine values are computed from the range rate increments as absolute values by counters in a PP! display unit. The signs of the sine and cosine are applied directly to the respective derivatives X and Y in the display unit where 0 is zero for a heading-up display, i.e., for X Y=l.

16 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures DIGITAL DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER SPIRAL SCAN GENERATOR The invention herein described was made in the course of or under a Contract or Subcontract thereunder with-the Navy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a sweep generator for control of an objects position on an X-Y coordinate system, such as the electron beam of a cathode ray tube as may be utilized with PPI displays, and particularly to a digital-spiral sweep control system using digital differential analyzers (DDAs) for sonar PPI display.

Conventional spiral sweep generators developed for use with sonar display systems employ analog function generators driven by an azimuth (sinusoidal) scan signal. Other systems have been developed which employ analog and digital techniques. Such hybrid techniques avoid some of the cost and stability problems of an analog system, but do not provide the degree of accuracy that can be achieved by using digital techniques in computing the spiral sweep pulse trains under control synchronization of azimuth analog signals. For example, a cosine signal can be readily derived from a sinusoidal azimuth scan signal; the sine and cosine signals may then be employed to control digitally variable frequency' generators. Digital pulse range rate multipliers may then be employed to generate pulse trains which vary in frequency as a function of not only the sine and cosine of sweep angle but also of range as the spiral scan sweep progresses outwardly from the center.

It would be very desirable to generate digital sweep pulse trains as a function of sweep angle and range for a spiral sweep generator that does not depend upon the stability of analog signal amplitudes but only depends upon an azimuth scan signal for synchronization at one or more cardinal points as the sinusoidal azimuth scan signal passes through successive cycles while the digital spiral sweep pulse trains are generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, digital spiralsweep pulse trains Ax-and Ayare generated for control of an object's position in 'an X-Y coordinate system using. a pair of cross-coupled DDAs to compute sine and cosine values in synchronism with a sinusoidal azimuth scan signal and DDAs coupled to the sine and cosine DDAs. to compute absolute values of X and Y as trains, of pulses representing increments Ax and Ay at frequencies proportional to respective values I X 27 and I I Finite increments of sweep angle are applied by an oscillator tothe cross-coupled DDAs synchronized by the azimuth scan signal while spiral sweep pulse trains are being generated for one full range cycle of the spiral sweep, One of the crosscoupled DDAs develops an integrand equal tolsin 0| while the otherdevelops an integrand' equal to.=lcos 0i Integrand counters in the respectivecross-coupled DDAs are synchronized and controlled to count up and-down by signals from a control logic network which detects'the cardinal points of the azimuth scan signal. Each time a given integrand counter is caused to changethe direction of counting, it is preset to the correct value for the current cardinal point to avoid the possibility of any cumulative error. At the same time, the accumulators of the cross-coupled DDAs are reset to a predetermined value which may be zero, but preferably set to half the maximum value that can be accu mulated. l

The desired Ax and -Ay 'digital spiral sweep pulse trainsare generated by four separate DDAs functioning as range rate multipliers. For the Axpulse train, one DDA provides range increments as a function of a variable integrand R and, as interation commands, increments Au of sin 0, and a second DDA also produces range increments as a function of the varying integrand U and increments of range Ar-from a range oscillator. The range increments are then ORed to produce Ax range quanta (increments). The increments Ay are similarly produced by two DDAs, the outputs of which are 'ORed, one digital integrator providing the range increments Ay as a function of the varying integrand R and, as iteration commands, increments Av of cos 0 applied from one of the cross-coupled DDAs. The other digital integrator then forms increments Ay as a function of the variable integrand V and increments Au. The values defininga spiral in an X-Y coordinate system are then developedby separate accumulators for counting range increments Ax and Ay. The accumulators are up-down counters which count in synchronization with the inte grand counters of the cross-coupled DDAs; At the end of each spiral sweep generation cycle, the X and Y accumulators are reset 'to X-Y coordinate'values of the starting point for the next cycle, usually the origin of both axes of the coordinate system. In applications where the radius or range changes slowly with respect to 0 it is possible to reduce the number of digital integrators connected to the crosscoupled DDAs from four to two suchthat increments Ax are generated as a function of the variable integrand R and increments Au from the cross-coupled DDAs, and the increments Ay are generated as a function of the variable integrand R and the increments Av from the other of the two cross-coupled DDAs.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will best be understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION or THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a sonar system including a spiral scan generating system as an illustrative application of the present invention.

. 'FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the organization of a spiral sweep generating system in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a digital differential analyzer (DDA). A symbol indicated bya dotted line is employed to represent DDAs cross-coupled in the schematic diagram of FIG. 2. w

FIG-.- 4 is an anti-coincidence circuit whichrnay be employed in the system of FIG. 3-to OR independent trains of pulses without loss of any pulses ORed.

,FIG. ,5 is a circuit diagram illustrating the manner in which a sinusoidal azimuth synchronizing signal is employed to determine when the sinusoidal synchronizing signal reaches cardinal points, and also to determine the signs of X and Y derivatives developed by the pres-' FIG. 7 is a diagram useful in understanding the operation of the system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates the manner in which azimuth the range increments are produced for the system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a specific embodiment of the present invention for applications involving a slowly changing radius or range and FIG. 10 is a schematic logical circuit diagram for generating control and timing signals.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, a sonar system embodying the present invention includes an omnidirectional sound transducer 10 comprising a matrix of piezoelectric elements, such as barium titanate or lead titanate zirconate ceramic elements, effectively wrapped around a hollow cylinder to form what are commonly referred to as rows and staves of elements. A transmit ter control 11 is programmed by an electronic programmer 12 to excite simultaneously all staves of rows so selected as to effectively form an omnidirectional beam of sound.

In a typical transducer, there are seven rows and 72 staves. Since a piezoelectric element will respond to pressure pulses to produce voltage pulses, the presence of targets may be detected by scanning the staves in sequence starting at an origin representing relative bearing on a PPI display unit 13.

To sequentially scan the staves of the transducer 10, receiver switches 14 are enabled by a range sweep enable signal produced by the programmer 12 following a transmitted sound pulse. Amplifiers l couple signals from receiver switches to a receiver scanner which, for a PPI display, will cyclically sample the combined signals of all rows in successive staves. If a target is present at a given azimuth and range, as the receiver scanner 16 scans the stave oriented at that bearing (at a time after the sound pulse has been transmitted sufficient to allow an echo pulse to be received from that range), a video signal is produced and applied to the PPI display unit 13 as an intensity control signal to brighten the face of a cathode ray tube at an azimuth angle and distance from the center corresponding to the bearing and range of the target. That position on the PPI display is correlated with the actual position of the target through a spiral scan generator 17 which causes the electron beam of a cathode ray tube in the PPI display unit 13 to be positioned at points moving around the center of the display at a monotonically increasing distance from the center with the azimuth angle of a given position corresponding directly with the azimuth position of the receiver scanner 16 as it cyclically scans the staves of the transducer 10. That is accomplished in accordance with the present invention by a spiral scan generator which produces Ax and Ay digital spiral sweep pulse trains which are accumulated in the PP! display unit to provide X-Y coordinates of successive positions of the electron beam on a spiral.

As will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 2 and 9, a pair of DDAs are crosscoupled to generate from increments A0 the derivatives of the I sin) and |cos 0]. The derivatives thus generated are then effectively multiplied by an ever increasing range by digital integrators to form the derivatives of X and Y, where X and Y are equal to RI sin 6] and RI cos 0| A control logic network 18 responds to the range sweep enable signal from the programmer 12 to generate the increments A0 and Ar, to provide appropriate preset signals to integrand up-down counters and accumulators in the spiral scan generator 17, and to provide appropriate direction control to up-down counters. In addition, the control logic network 18 continually determines the signas signs of X and Y (FIG. 5) from a sinusoidal azimuth sweep signal transmitted by the receiver 16 to synchronize the PPI display 13 in azimuth with the scanning of staves in the transducer 10. Start sweep, and end-of-sweep signals may also be provided by the control logic 18, if required, by simply differentiating the leading and trailing edges of the range sweep enable signal. End of sweep signals may be provided by differentiating the trailing edge of the range sweep pulses by conventional differentiating circuit such as the circuit 56 of FIG. 2.

Although specific reference has thus far been made to only a sonar system having a spiral scan generator for PPI display, it should be noted that other systems may employ the system of FIG. 2 to equal advantage, such as a PPI display for a radar system, or even a numerical control tool director. For both sonar and radar applications, the range increases from zero to a maximum, at a slow rate for a sonar system, and at a fast rate for a radar system. Other applications of the present invention may have angle 0, range, or radius, varying at some rate; the system of FIG. 2 is suitable for all these applications, including both radar and sonar. A simplified spiral scan generator can be utilized for applications where range, or radius, changes very slowly, such as in sonar, as will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

Referring now to FIG. 2, Ax and Ay digital spiral sweep pulse trains are generated by a first DDA 21 cross-coupled with a second DDA 22 to compute absolute values of V and U corresponding to |cos 0| and Isin 0|. As lsin 0| and |cos 6| are being computed by the cross-coupled DDAs, the derivatives of lsin OI and |cos 0| are also being produced in accordance with the following equations:

where d0 represents increments of azimuth sweep. In practice, finite increments A0, Au, and Av are employed to implement Equations (l) and (2). The increments Au and Av are produced in the normal process of iterating the DDAs by increments A0 while integrand counters in the respective DDAs 21 and i2 21 and 22, it is not necessary to do so as long as the integrand counters are properly controlled to count up from 0.000 .0 up and to 0.111 .l and back down again changing direction at every cardinal point of the azimuth sweep signal. In the case of the integrand counter in the DDA 21, it counts up during the first and third quadrants of each cycle of the azimuth sweep signal, and down during the second and fourth'quadrants. While integrand counter for Isin 0| is counting up, the integrand counter for lcos 0| must count down.

Cumulative errors in generating \sin BI and lcos 01 can be avoided by presetting the integrand counters to their correct values at each of the four cardinal points during every azimuth swee'p cycle. At the beginning of every first and third quadrant, the integrand counter in the DDA 22 is preset to zero while the integrand counter in the DDA 21 is effectively preset to one. During the second and fourth quadrants, the presets are interchanged.

Before proceeding with a more detailed description of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 2, the basic operation of a digital differential analyzer (DDA) will be described with reference to FIG. 3 which shows in a dotted .line the basic components of the DDA 21 in FIG. 2. The form of the dotted line is used in FIGS. 2 and 9 to represent DDAs having identically the same basic components.

The basic components of the DDA 21 implement Equation 1'). An up-down counter 24 contains the current value of the integrand V. By properly presetting the updown counter 24 atcardinal points of the azimuth sweep signal from the receiver scanner 16 (FIG. 1.), and controlling the counting QII'CCfiOlEiILQDDA 2 1 cohtinually forms the value V which is equal to Icos 0|.

An adder 25 continually adds the contents of the counter 24 and an accumulator 26 provides a sum, and an overflow increment when the sum exceeds the maximum value which can be stored in the accumulator 26. In practice, the up-down counter 24, adder 25 and accumulator 26 may each be provided with a capacity for any number, such'as 11, digits of a binary number. Thus, for every increment A0, the DDA 21 willstore the sum from the adder 25 in the accumulator 26, and when necessary transmit an overflow increment as an increment Au. That function-is represented in FIG. 3 by ANDgates 27 and 28. However, it should be appreciated that although the transmission of an increment Au in response to an increment A0 can be readily implemented with a single AND gate, the function of storing the sum in the accumulator 26 must be accomplished by a separate AND gate similar to the AND gate 27 for each binary stage of the accumulator 26, if, for speed, a parallel adder and parallel transfer of the sum is desired. v

The increments Au are counted by an up-down integrand counter in the DDA 22 to form the integrand 1U I which is equal to lsin 0] in the same way the up-down counter 24 receives theincrements Av to form the integrand lVl. In that manner, the DDAs 21 and 22 which are identical in organization are cross-coupled to generate absolute cosine and sine values, and increments Av and Au at rates proportional to those values. However, since the absolute value of sin 0 is decreasing from one to zero while the absolute value of cos 0 is increasing from zero to one, and vice versa, the presets and up-down controls for the integrand counters are independent as indicated by the subscript one for the preset and up-down control signals to the integrand counter in the DDA 21, and the subscript two for the corresponding control signals for th DDA 22.

The integrand counter 24 may be any conventional counter which may be controlled to count up in re sponse to a given voltage level, such as +6 volts, and to count down in response to a second voltage level, such as 0 volts, but not count above 0.111 .1 nor below 0.000 .0. Such a limited counting range can be readily implemented by an input gate for increment pulses to be counted which is normally enabled and dis- 1 abled by an AND gate which detects the count of 0.1 1 1 .1 while the count direction is up, and disabled by an AND gate which detects the count of 0.000 .0 while the count direction is down. Other known techniques could, of course, be used. Thus the up-down control may be simply a binary signal. For generating cos 0 in the counter 24, the up-down control signal is synchronized to cause the counter 24 to count up in the second and fourth quadrants and down in the first and third quadrants while the up-down control signal for the integrand counter in the DDA 22 is reversed to count up during the first and third quadrants, and down during the second and fourth quadrants.

The preset signals are also keyed to the cardinal I points so that for the integrand counter in the DDA 21,

a O-PRESET signal is generated to force every stage of the counter to zero at the cardinal points at which 0 is equal to 90 and 270. At the other cardinal points at which 0 is equal to 0 and 180, a l-PRESET, signal is generated to force every stage of the counter 24 to a binary 1. Thus, in practice, the counter is set to zero when lcos 0| is supposed to be zero and to a binary number which is just one increment short of the full value of lcos 0| when it is supposed to be 1.000 .0.

. ers at each of the cardinal points, the accumulator of each DDA is preset to A byresetting to zero all stages of the accumulator except for the most significant bit, and setting the most significant bit position to a binary 1, thereby setting the accumulators to 0.100 .0.

The cross-coupled DDAs 21 and 22 operate continuously in response to increments A0 to generate absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0 as the respective integrands U and V. The increments A0 are generated by an azimuth oscillator and transmitted to the DDAs 21 and 22 during a range sweep enable signal. That may be readily accomplished by providing a stable oscillator operating at a frequency sufficiently high for the integrand counters to just reach counts corresponding to absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0 as they count up and down during half cycles of the azimuth sweep signal. The range sweep signal may then be employed to simply enable gates to transmit the increments A0 to the DDAs 21 and 22.

Pulse trains for the X and Y coordinates are then generated as a function of the following digital differential equations:

Ax=RAu+UAr Ay=RAv+VAr The integrand R for the first term of each equation is generated by a counter 30 which is reset to zero by the trailing edge of the range sweep enable signal from the programmer 12 and then counts increments A r generated by an oscillator in the control logic network 18 and gated to the counter 30 by the range sweep enable signal, just as pulses are gated to the DDAs 21 and 22.

Four separate DDAs 31 to 34 are employed to generate the four terms of Equations (3) and (4) using the content of the range counter 30 as the integrand R for the DDAs 31 and 32 and the contents of the integrand counters of the DDAs 21 and 22 for the integrands V and U in the DDAs 33 and 34. The symbol employed for the DDAs 21 and 22 is not employed for the DDAs 31 to 34 in order to show that the DDAs 31 and 32 are sharing the integrand counter 30 to generate the first terms of Equations (3) and (4), and the DDAs 33 and 34 are sharing with the DDAs 21 and 22 the integrand counters of the DDAs 21 and 22 to generate the second terms of Equations (3) and (4).

The DDA 33 transmits increments Ay, in response to increments Ar at a rate which varies with the integrand V which is equal to cos 0 while the DDA 31 generates increments Ay, in response to increments Av at an ever increasing rate from the leading edge of the range sweep signal to the trailing edge for a complete spiral sweep cycle. The increments Ay, and Ay are then added through an OR gate 35 to provide a train of pulses at a rate which is increasing with time for an increase in range or radius of the spiral sweep display. However, that ever increasing rate of increments Ay is modulated by cos 0 not only because the integrand V is employed by the DDA 33 but also because the increments Av applied to the DDA 31 occur at rates which are a function of the integrand V in the DDA 21. The DDAs 32 and 34 similarly produce increments Ax, and Ax which are added by an OR gate 36 to produce a train of increments Ax at a rate which is basically increasing as a function of time for an ever increasing range or radius in the spiral sweep display but modulated by the integrand U which is equal to sin 0.

It should be noted that any coincidence in the occurrence of increment pulses being ORed will result in the loss of one of them. In applications where such loss would be significant, the increment pulses may be applied to the OR gate through buffer flip-flops reset by out of phase clock pulses CP, and CP,. Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 4 for the increments Ax, and Ax Flip-flops FF, and FF, are of the conventional R-S type, each adapted to be set and reset by the leading edges of applied pulses. In other words, each set and reset input circuit of a given flip-flop includes a differentiating network and a series diode in a conventional arrangement. Once set, the given flip-flop will enable a corresponding one of two AND gates 39 to transmit a clock pulse to the OR gate 36. The transmitted clock pulse will immediately reset the given flipfiop and increment pulses Ax will be transmitted through the OR gate 36 out of phase (i.e., not in coincidence) in response to coincident increment pulses Ax, and Ax, so long as the clock pulses CP, and CP applied to the two AND gates are controlled to be out of phase. That may be readily accomplished by generating clock pulses CP, at a frequency equal to or greater than the highest of the frequencies for the increments A0 and Ar, and deriving the clock pulses CP through a suitable delay line. For example, if the frequency of the clock pulses CP, is equal to the frequency of the increment pulses A9, the duration of the clock pulses CI, may be set to one fourth the period of a full cycle for the increment pulses A0. The delay line is then selected to produce a delay period equal to half the period of a full cycle for the increment pulses A0. The maximum frequency at which increment pulses Ax will then be transmitted by the OR gate 36 is twice the frequency of the clock pulses CP,.

To generate derivatives X and Y for the coordinate system of the spiral sweep display, up-down counters 37 and 38 located in the PPI display unit 13 of FIG. 1 are connected to receive and count the respective increments Ax and Ay. The values X and Y are, in general, ever increasing but are modulated to vary as a function of Icos 0| and Iain 0| respectively. That is accomplished by controlling the direction of the up-down counter 37 with the up-down control signal of the integrand counter in the DDA 22. The up-down counter 38 is similarly controlled by the up-down control signal which controls the integrand counter of the DDA 21. At the end of each spiral sweep generation cycle, the counters 37 and 38 are reset to zero as is the range counter 30. That may readily be accomplished by resetting all of those counters with the trailing edge of the range sweep signal from the programmer 12. Thus, by cross-coupling the two DDAs 22 and 21, derviatives of Isin 0| and lcos 61 are generated and applied to the DDAs 31 to 34 which then generate derivatives of X and Y for a spiral sweep scan in accordance with the foregoing equations (3) and (4).

In applications where range changes slowly with respect to azimuth (0), it is possible to reduce the foregoing equations to the following fonns:

Ax RAu Ay RAv The derivatives X and Y are then generated with only the cross-coupled DDAs 21 and 22 and the range multiplying DDAs 31 and 32 as shown in FIG. 9. It should be noted that in either case the derivatives X and Y are absolute values since in these preferred embodiments, only absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0 are computed for use in computing X and Y. The signs of sin 0 and cos 0 are derived independently of X and Y computations, and transmitted directly to the PPI display unit to simplify implementation of the DDAs.

Before proceeding with a detailed description of the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, the manner in which the signs of X and Y are determined will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The sinusoidal azimuth sweep signal (sin 0) shown in FIG. 6 is applied to the control logic network 18 (FIG. 1) which includes the circuit of FIG. 5. A phase shift network 40 is employed to derive a signal 90' out of phase with the sinusoidal azimuth signal as shown in FIG. 6. Thus, if the azimuth signal is employed to represent sin 6 for the spiral sweep display, the signal outof the phase shift network 40 will represent cos 0. When sin is zero at 0, cost) is 1. As sin 0 increases in the first quadrant, cos 0 decreases to zero. In the second quadrant sin 0 decreases to zero while cos 0 increases in magnitude but with a negative sign. In the third quadrant cos 0 decreases in absolute value to zero while sin 0 increases in absolute value but with a negative sign. Finally in the fourth quadrant, cos 0 increases to +1 while sin 0 decreases in magnitude to zero.

Differential comparators 41 and 42, which are essentially nothing more than high gain differential amplifiers, produce square wave signals A and in the timing diagram of FIG. 5. Inverters 43 and 44invert the signals A and B to provide signals A and E. If the sign to 13 (FIG. 1) is a binary 0 for a plus and a binary l for a minus sign, and a binary 0 is defined as a O-volt level while a binary i is defined as a +V level, it may be seen that the complementary signals A and T3 directly represent the signs of sin 0 and cos 0. Since the sign of X corresponds to the sign of sin 0, and the sign of Y corresponds to the sign of cos 9, the complementary signals A and provide the required sign signals in binary form for direct use in the PPI display with therespective derviatives X and Y.

It is important that leading and trailing edges of the square waves A and B correspond in time with the zero crossover or cardinal points of the sine and cosine waves. Accordingly, potentiometers 45 and 46 are provided toadjust the zero references for the differential comparators which, as just noted hereinbefore, are high gain differential amplifiers that quickly saturate when the input signals cross zero and become positive, and quickly cutoff when the input signals again cross zero. Hysteresis is reducedto substantially zero by the provision of high gain in the amplifiers. To protect such high gain amplifiers from excessively high input signals, limiting diodes D and D are provided. Still other techniques may be employed to produce square waves, including the use of a Schmitt trigger circuit which has been widely used in counting and pulse circuits since hysteresis may be made substantially zero by the proper choiceof circuit parameters.

V Differentiating networks 47 to 50 produce sharp positive and negative pulses at the leading and trailing edges of the square wave formsAflK, B and T3. Diodes 7 D to D; .then transmit only the sharp positive pulses to a pulse shaper 51 via an OR gate 52 to provide positive pulses (T) shown in FIG.6 in time coincidence with the the conventional OR and AND gate arrangements of FIG. 10. These control signals are applied to the integrand counters of the DDAs 21 and 22. The subscript 1 indicates a control signal for the DDA 21 and a subscript 2indicates a control signal for the DDA 22.In addition, the accumulator of each of the DDAs 21 and 22 is preset to one-half (i.e., to 0.100 .0) at each cardinal point-upon the occurance of a timing pulse T.

Altnough three separate Boolean equations are shown for each of the DDAs 21 and 22, it is apparent that the integrand counter of the DDA 21 is being preset to l (i.e., to 0.I l l .l while the integrand counter of the DDA 22 is being preset to zero (i.e to 0.000 .0) and vice versa. Accordingly, in practice only two control signals are required which may be denominated C, and C for the two preset conditions required for the integrand counters of the DDAs 21 and 22 since the same two control signals applied to the DDA 21 may be simply reversed for the control signals required for the integrand counter of the DDA 22. Regarding the up-down control of the integrand counters, since the integrand counter of the DDA 21 is to count up while the integrand counter of the DDA 22 is to count down, it is apparent that a single up-down control signal developed for the integrand counter of the DDA 2 1'inay be employed for the integrand counter of the DDA 22 by simply inverting it.

FIG. 7 illustrates the orientation of the Cartesian coordinate axes X and Y for the PPI display 13 selected to provide a positive sign for the derivative X as 0 increases from 0 to 90 and 180 and a negative sign from 180 to 270 and back to 0. The signal A may then be employed as the sign of X directly as noted hereinbefore. Since the derivative Y is then negative from 90 to 270"v and positive the rest of the time, the signal I? may then be used directly for the sign of Y. FIG. 7 is also helpful in understanding the manner in which a spiral sweep is generated by the cross-coupled DDAs 21 and 22, and the DDAs 33 to 34. If the range or radius R is maintained constant at a value R the DDAs 2 1 and 22 define a circle. If the range R is increased, the DDAs 31 to 34 then function essentially as rate multipliers to continually increase the rate at which the increments Ax and Ay are otherwise generated'(i.e to continually increase the derivatives X and Y as the radius is increased such as from the value R to a value R 7 i The quanta increments of 0 and range R are generatedclock pulses of independent stable oscillators 53 and 54 and gated through AND gates 55 and 56 by the rangesweep enable signal as shown in FIG. 8 in the cardinal points of the sine and cosine waves. These cardinal pulses are then combined by the control logic network 18 to provide preset and up-down count control signals for the spiral scan generator 1 7 shown in FIG. 2 according to the following Boolean equations:

l- PRESET, T(AB AB).

"UP/DN CONTROL, AF 2B 0 PRESET, T(-AB 2F) "UP/DN CONTROI AB k PRESET T' "True to count up, and false to count down.

These control signals are generated by a suitable logical mechanization in controllogic unit 18 as shown by sweep cycle. At the same time, increments Ar are apsystem of FIG. 2 may be simplified for applications where range changes slowly with respect to azimuth, v

such as in a typical sonar system, by implementing Equations and (6). That is illustrated in FIG. 9 wherein the cross-coupled DDAs 21 and 22 have their respective increments Au and Av applied to the DDAs 31 and 32. Increments Ay and Ax produced by the DDA's 31 and 32 are applied directly to the counters 37 and 38 located in the PPI display unit 13 of FIG. 1. The organization and operation of the simplified system is otherwise as described for the more complete system of FIG. 2.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and variations may readily occur to those skilled in the art. Consequently, it is intended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications and equivalents.

I claim: 1. A system for generating pulses representing increments Ax and Ay in digital pulse trains to be used for positioning an object along a spiral path in a rectangular Cartesian coordinate system comprising:

means for generating first and second clock pulses representing respective constant azimuth increments A0 of said spiral path, and constant range increments Ar of distance R of said spiral path from the center of said coordinate system; means responsive to said first clock pulses for generating values of sin 0 and cos 0, and for generating a first pulse train representing constant increments Au of successive changes in the value sin 0 and a second pulse train representing constant increments'Av of successive changes in the value 0050; including first and second cross-coupled digital differential analyzers wherein sin 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Au from said first analyzer, and cos 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Av from said second analyzer, and said increments Au and Av are produced in said first and second analyzers in response to said increments A0;

means responsive to said second clock pulses for generating a continuously increasing value of said dis tance R; and

means responsive to said value R for varying the pulse rate of said first and second pulse trains as a function of said value R to produce said trains of pulse increments Ay and Ax, respectively.

2. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for generating values of sin 0 and cos 0, and said first and second pulse trains comprises first and second cross-coupled digital differential analyzers wherein sin 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Au from said first analyzer, and cos 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Av from said second analyzer, and said increments Au and Av are produced in said first and second analyzers in response to said increments A0.

3. A system as defined in claim 2 including third and fourth digital differential analyzers for producing third and fourth pulse trains as a function of respective integrands in said first and second analyzers and increments Ar of said distance, and means for adding said third and fourth pulse trains to said first and second pulse trains, respectively, to produce said increments Ay and Ax.

4. A system for generating pulses representing increments Ax and Ay as digital pulse trains for positioning an object along a spiral path in rectangular Cartesian coordinate system in synchronism with an azimuth sinusoidal signal representing sin 0 as the distance of said spiral path from the center of said coordinate system varies comprising:

means for generating first and second clock pulses of independent frequencies representing respective increments A0 of successive changes in azimuth of said spiral path and increments Ar of successive changes in said distance;

means responsive to said first clock pulses for generating absolute sin 0 and cos 0 values, and a first pulse train representing changes in constant increments Au of sin 0 and a second pulse train representing changes in constant increments Av of cos 0;

means for counting said second clock pulses to generate a increasing varying value R of said distance;

means responsive to said value R for varying the pulse rate of said first and second pulse trains as a function of said value R whereby the rate of said first and second pulse trains represent absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0; and

means responsive to said sinusoidal signal for determining the signs ofsaid absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0. a

5. A system as defined in claim 4 including:

control means responsive to said sinusoidal signal for determining when said absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0 start increasing from 0 to substantially 1, and start decreasing from substantially l to 0;

a first up-down counter for counting said first pulse train up and down in response to said control means in synchronism with said absolute values of sin 0 increasing and decreasing; and

a second up-down counter for counting said second pulse train up and down in response to said control means in synchronism with said absolute values of cos 0 increasing and decreasing.

6. A system as defined in claim 5 wherein said means for generating absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0, and said first and second pulse trains comprises first and second cross-coupled digital difi'erential analyzers wherein sin 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Au from said first analyzer, and cos 0 is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Av from said second analyzer, and said increments Av and Au are produced in said first and second counters in response to said increments A0, and wherein said integrand counter for developing the absolute values of sin 0 is set to zero when said control means determines the absolute value of sin 0 is to start increasing, and to substantially one when said control means determines the absolute value of sin 0 is to start decreasing, and said integrand counter for developing the absolute values of cos 0 is set to zero when said control means determines the absolute value of sin 0 is to start increasing, and to substantially one when said control means determines the absolute value of cos 0 is to start decreasing.

7. A system as defined in claim 6 wherein each of said analzers includes a residual accumulator, and said accumulator is reset by said control means each time said integrand counters are caused to change counting direction.

8. The combination of claim 7 including third and fourth digitaldifferential analyzers for producing third and fourth pulse trains as a function of respective integrands in said first and second analyzers and increments Ar of said distance, and means for adding said third and fourth pulse trains to said first and second pulse trains, respectively, to produce said pulses representing increments Ay and Ax.

9. Apparatus for generating digital spiral sweep pulse trains to permit PPI display in a sonar system using rectangular Cortesian coordinates X and Y comprising:

a source of azimuth clock pulses representing ill? in incremental form where is an azimuth angle;

a first pair of digital differential analyzers crosscoupled to form two integrators responsive to said clock pulses to form derivatives of sin 0 and cos 0 as respective pulse increments Au and Av;

a source of range clock pulses representing dr in incremental form, where the sum of clock pulses at any given time during a spiral sweep cycle represents range R;

a counter for adding said range clock pulses; and

a second pair of digital differential analyzers coupled to said first pair of digital differential analyzers, one digital differential "analyzer of said second pair being responsive to derivatives of sin 0 and the nu merical content of said range counter for forming derivatives of X, and the other of said digital differential analyzer of said second pair being responsive to derivatives of cos 6 and the numerical content of said range counter for forming derivatives of Y,

said derivatives of X and Y being in the form of pulses representing increments Ax and Ay.

IOL-Apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein inte grand counters of said first pair of digital differential analyzers'form as integrands the absolute values of sin 0 and cos 0 in response to counting up and down said increments Auand Av, respectively, and including:

a source of synchronizing sinusoidal azimuth sweep signal; I t I synchronizing means responsive to said sweep signal for determining when. said sweep signal passes through cardinal points of 0, 90, 180 and 270; control means responsive to said sweep signal for causing said integrand counter for lsin 0| to count up during first'and third quadrants of said sweep signal cycle, and down during second and fourth quadrants of'saidsweep signal cycle, and for causing said integrand counter for Icos 0| to count down during said first and third quadrants, and count up during said second and third quadrants;

and preset means responsive to said sweep signal for causing one of said integrand counters to be'preset to zero at cardinal points'where said control means initiates an upward counting operation for said one counter, and to preset the other said integrand counters to substantially one at the same time, and to preset the other of said countersto zero at cardinal points where said control means initiates an upward counting operation for said one counter, and topreset the one of said integrand counters to substantially zero at the same time. l

mining the signs of said integrands [sin 0| and cos 0|.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim ll including a third pair of digital differential analyzers, one of said analy' zers of said third pair being responsive to said integrand I sin 0] and to said range clock pulses for forming derivatives of X, and the other of said analyzers of said fourth pair being responsive to said integrand Icos 0i and to said range clock pulses for fonning derivatives of Y, and means for adding respective derivatives of X and Y formed by said third and fourth pairs of analyzers.

13. A system for converting an azimuth sweep signal and a range sweep enable signal into digital pulse trains Ax and Ay for positioning an electron beam on a cathode ray tube for PPI display of video signals, the combination comprising:

a source of pulses representing increments A0 of azimuth sweep angle gated on by said range sweep enable signal;

a source of pulses representing increments Ar of range sweep gated on by said range sweep enable signal;

means comprising digital differential analyzers for computing absolute sine and cosine values of sweep angle 6 as integrands and pulses representing increments Au and Av of sin 0 and cos 0, respectively, in response to said pulses representing increments A0 in accordance with the following equaw'sere lVTfsthe absifiute value of sinE'andTUl istHe absolute value of cos 0;

means comprising digital differential analyzers for computing said pulse trains Ax and Ay in response to said pulses representing increments Ar and said pulses representing increments Au and Avin accordance with the following equations: i Ax, RAu A Ay, Rdv where x, and y, are equal to Ax and Ay, respectively, R is an integrand value of range continuously determined by counting said pulses representing increments Ar of range sweep from a preset value at the beginning of said range sweep enable signal. 7 14. A system as defined in claim l3ffurther comprising:

a pair of counters for counting up and down pulses of said trains Ax, and Ay, to form the absolute val.- ues of X and Y;

means responsive to said azimuth sweep signal for controlling said pair of counters to count up said pulses of said train Ax,, during said first and third quadrants of azimuth angle 0, and to count down the balance of the time, and to count pulses of said train Ay, in a direction always'op'posite to counting said pulses of said train Ay,

15. A system as defined in claim 13 wherein said last named means further comprises digital differential analyzers for computing additional pulse trains Ax, and Ay, in response to said pulses representing increments Au and Av in accordance with the following equations:

Ax: Ay, W Ar and means for combining said pulse trains Ax, and Ax into a single train Ax equal to Ax, Ax, and for combining said pulse trains Ay, and Ay, into a single train Ay equal to Ay, Ay,.

16 pulses of said train Ax, during said first and third quadrants of azimuth angle 0, and to count down the balance of the time, and to count pulses of said train Ay in a direction always opposite to counting said pulses of said train Ay.

* i IR 

1. A system for generating pulses representing increments Delta x and Delta y in digital pulse trains to be used for positioning an object along a spiral path in a rectangular Cartesian coordinate system comprising: means for generating first and second clock pulses representing respective constant azimuth increments Delta theta of said spiral path, and constant range increments Delta r of distance R of said spiral path from the center of said coordinate system; means responsive to said first clock pulses for generating values of sin theta and cos theta , and for generating a first pulse train representing constant increments Delta u of successive changes in the value sin theta and a second pulse train representing constant increments Delta v of successive changes in the value cos theta ; including first and second cross-coupled digital differential analyzers wherein sin theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Delta u from said first analyzer, and cos theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Delta v from said second analyzer, and said increments Delta u and Delta v are produced in said first and second analyzers in response to said increments Delta theta ; means responsive to said second clock pulses for generating a continuously increasing value of said distancE R; and means responsive to said value R for varying the pulse rate of said first and second pulse trains as a function of said value R to produce said trains of pulse increments Delta y and Delta x, respectively.
 2. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for generating values of sin theta and cos theta , and said first and second pulse trains comprises first and second cross-coupled digital differential analyzers wherein sin theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Delta u from said first analyzer, and cos theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Delta v from said second analyzer, and said increments Delta u and Delta v are produced in said first and second analyzers in response to said increments Delta theta .
 3. A system as defined in claim 2 including third and fourth digital differential analyzers for producing third and fourth pulse trains as a function of respective integrands in said first and second analyzers and increments Delta r of said distance, and means for adding said third and fourth pulse trains to said first and second pulse trains, respectively, to produce said increments Delta y and Delta x.
 4. A system for generating pulses representing increments Delta x and Delta y as digital pulse trains for positioning an object along a spiral path in rectangular Cartesian coordinate system in synchronism with an azimuth sinusoidal signal representing sin theta as the distance of said spiral path from the center of said coordinate system varies comprising: means for generating first and second clock pulses of independent frequencies representing respective increments Delta theta of successive changes in azimuth of said spiral path and increments Delta r of successive changes in said distance; means responsive to said first clock pulses for generating absolute sin theta and cos theta values, and a first pulse train representing changes in constant increments Delta u of sin theta and a second pulse train representing changes in constant increments Delta v of cos theta ; means for counting said second clock pulses to generate a increasing varying value R of said distance; means responsive to said value R for varying the pulse rate of said first and second pulse trains as a function of said value R whereby the rate of said first and second pulse trains represent absolute values of sin theta and cos theta ; and means responsive to said sinusoidal signal for determining the signs of said absolute values of sin theta and cos theta .
 5. A system as defined in claim 4 including: control means responsive to said sinusoidal signal for determining when said absolute values of sin theta and cos theta start increasing from 0 to substantially 1, and start decreasing from substantially 1 to 0; a first up-down counter for counting said first pulse train up and down in response to said control means in synchronism with said absolute values of sin theta increasing and decreasing; and a second up-down counter for counting said second pulse train up and down in response to said control means in synchronism with said absolute values of cos theta increasing and decreasing.
 6. A system as defined in claim 5 wherein said means for generating absolute values of sin theta and cos theta , and said first and second pulse trains comprises first and second cross-coupled digital differential analyzers wherein sin theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said second analyzer in response to increments Delta u from said first analyzer, and cos theta is developed as an integrand by a counter in said first analyzer in response to increments Delta v from said second analyzer, and said increments Delta v and Delta u are produced in said first and second counters in response to said increments Delta theta , and wherein said integrand counter for developing the absolute values of sin theta is set to zero when said control means determines the absolute value of sin theta is to start increasing, and to substantially one when said control means determines the absolute value of sin theta is to start decreasing, and said integrand counter for developing the absolute values of cos theta is set to zero when said control means determines the absolute value of sin theta is to start increasing, and to substantially one when said control means determines the absolute value of cos theta is to start decreasing.
 7. A system as defined in claim 6 wherein each of said analyzers includes a residual accumulator, and said accumulator is reset by said control means each time said integrand counters are caused to change counting direction.
 8. The combination of claim 7 including third and fourth digital differential analyzers for producing third and fourth pulse trains as a function of respective integrands in said first and second analyzers and increments Delta r of said distance, and means for adding said third and fourth pulse trains to said first and second pulse trains, respectively, to produce said pulses representing increments Delta y and Delta x.
 9. Apparatus for generating digital spiral sweep pulse trains to permit PPI display in a sonar system using rectangular Cortesian coordinates X and Y comprising: a source of azimuth clock pulses representing d theta in incremental form where theta is an azimuth angle; a first pair of digital differential analyzers cross-coupled to form two integrators responsive to said clock pulses to form derivatives of sin theta and cos theta as respective pulse increments Delta u and Delta v; a source of range clock pulses representing dr in incremental form, where the sum of clock pulses at any given time during a spiral sweep cycle represents range R; a counter for adding said range clock pulses; and a second pair of digital differential analyzers coupled to said first pair of digital differential analyzers, one digital differential analyzer of said second pair being responsive to derivatives of sin theta and the numerical content of said range counter for forming derivatives of X, and the other of said digital differential analyzer of said second pair being responsive to derivatives of cos theta and the numerical content of said range counter for forming derivatives of Y, said derivatives of X and Y being in the form of pulses representing increments Delta x and Delta y.
 10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein integrand counters of said first pair of digital differential analyzers form as integrands the absolute values of sin theta and cos theta in response to counting up and down said increments Delta u and Delta v, respectively, and including: a source of synchronizing sinusoidal azimuth sweep signal; synchronizing means responsive to said sweep signal for determining when said sweep signal passes through cardinal points of 0*, 90*, 180* and 270* ; control means responsive to said sweep signal for causing said integrand counter for sin theta to count up during first and third quadrants of said sweep signal cycle, and down during second and fourth quadrants of said sweep signal cycle, and for causing said integrand counter for cos theta to count down during said first and third quadrants, and count up during said second and third quadrants; and preset means responsive to said sweep signal for causing one of said integrand counters to be preset to zero at cardinal points where said control means initiates an upward counting operation for said one counter, and to preset the other of said integrand counters to substantially one at the same time, and to preset the other of said counters to zero at cardinal points where said control means initiates an upward counting operation for said one counter, and to preset the one of said integrand counters to substantially zero at the same time.
 11. Apparatus as defined in claim 10 including means responsive to said sweep signal for continually determining the signs of said integrands sin theta and cos theta .
 12. Apparatus as defined in claim 11 including a third pair of digital differential analyzers, one of said analyzers of said third pair being responsive to said integrand sin theta and to said range clock pulses for forming derivatives of X, and the other of said analyzers of said fourth pair being responsive to said integrand cos theta and to said range clock pulses for forming derivatives of Y, and means for adding respective derivatives of X and Y formed by said third and fourth pairs of analyzers.
 13. A system for converting an azimuth sweep signal and a range sweep enable signal into digital pulse trains Delta x and Delta y for positioning an electron beam on a cathode ray tube for PPI display of video signals, the combination comprising: a source of pulses representing increments Delta theta of azimuth sweep angle gated on by said range sweep enable signal; a source of pulses representing increments Delta r of range sweep gated on by said range sweep enable signal; means comprising digital differential analyzers for computing absolute sine and cosine values of sweep angle theta as integrands and pulses representing increments Delta u and Delta v of sin theta and cos theta , respectively, in response to said pulses representing increments Delta theta in accordance with the following equations: Delta u V Delta theta Delta v U Delta theta where V is the absolute value of sin theta , and U is the absolute value of cos theta ; means comprising digital differential analyzers for computing said pulse trains Delta x and Delta y in response to said pulses representing increments Delta r and said pulses representing increments Delta u and Delta v in accordance with the following equations: Delta x1 R Delta u Delta y1 Rdv where x1 and y1 are equal to Delta x and Delta y, respectively, R is an integrand value of range continuously determined by counting said pulses representing increments Delta r of range sweep from a preset value at the beginning of said range sweep enable signal.
 14. A system as defined in claim 13 further comprising: a pair of counters for counting up and down pulses of said trains Delta x1 and Delta y1 to form the absolute values of X and Y; means responsive to said azimuth sweep signal for controlling said pair of counters to count up said pulses of said train Delta x1, during said first and third quadrants of azimuth angle theta , and to count down the balance of the time, and to count pulses of said train Delta y1 in a direction always opposite to counting said pulses of said train Delta y1.
 15. A system as defined in claim 13 wherein said last named means further comprises digital differential analyzers for computing additional pulse trains Delta x2 and Delta y2 in response to said pulses representing increments Delta u and Delta v in accordance with the following equations: Delta x2 U Delta r Delta y2 V Delta r and means for combining said pulse trains Delta x1 and Delta x 2 into a single train Delta x equal to Delta x1 + Delta x2 and for combining said pulse trains Delta y1 and Delta y2 into a single train Delta y equal to Delta y1 + Delta y2.
 16. A system as defined in claim 15 further comprising: a pair of counters for counting up and down pulses of said trains Delta x and Delta y to form the absolute values of X and Y; means responsive to said azimuth sweep signal for controlling said pair of counters to count up said pulses of said train Delta x, during said first and third quadrants of azimuth angle theta , and to count down the balance of the time, and to count pulses of said train Delta y in a direction always opposite to counting said pulses of said train Delta y. 